Combination nail file and holder therefor



Sept. 24, 1940. A. E. JOHNSON COMBINATION NAIL FILE AND HOLDER THEREFOR Filed Dec. 17, 1938 W5 NVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 24, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMBINATION NAIL FILE AND HOLDER THEREFOR 7 Claims.

This invention relates to a combination nail file and holder therefor.

One object of this invention is to provide an improved combination holder and nail file, according to an arrangement such that the nail file may be mounted and disposed in a convenient manner, and with the nail file being equally accessible for instantaneous and convenient use.

I have found that nail files carried on the person, especially by men, are frequently lost, and in any case, generally require a search through all the pockets to locate the nailfile among a miscellany of other articles. The resulting inconvenience is an important reason why many men do not carry nail files and hence do not have a nail file handy whenever required.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a device of the character referred to which shall obviate the drawbacks noted and whereby the nail file shall be reliably held.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved nail file adapted for the purposes mentioned, and particularly such a nail file having a nail cleaning point at one end and a cuticle treating blunt portion at its other end, and

means for movably mounting the nail file for convenient use of any desired part thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the specification proceeds.

With the aforesaid objects in view, the invention consists in the novel combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described in their preferred embodiments, pointed out in the subjoined claims, and illustrated in the annexed drawing, wherein like parts are designated by the same reference characters throughout the severalviews.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a plan view showing a combination key holder and nail file, in open position, embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a nail file means embodying the invention, with the nail file longitudinally projected.

Fig. 3 is a plan View thereof with the nail file in transverse position.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the nail file in de- 50 tached position.

Figs. 5, 6 and '7 are sectional views taken on the respective lines 5-5, G-B, .and 'l--l of Fig. 2.

Figs. 8 and 9 are plan views of a modification 56 in different positions thereof.

Fig. 10 is a sectional View on the line lfllll of Fig. 8.

Figs. 11 and 12 are plan views of still further modifications of the invention.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to 5 which the invention appertains, that the same may be incorporated in several different constructions. The accompanying drawing, therefore, is submitted merely as showing the preferred exemplification of the invention. 10

The advantages of the invention as here outlined are best realized when all of its features and instrumentalities are combined in one and the same structure, but, useful devices may be produced embodying less than the whole. 15'

Referring in detail to the drawing, l5 denotes a device embodying the invention. The same may include a key case it of any suitable type, for example, one having side walls ll, it folded against each other and adapted to be closed by u a marginal slide fastener l9. Carried by the wall it is a key holder 29 of any conventional type, which may comprise the usual spring clips 2!, and rotary, or rotary and swiveled means it! for mounting the same. Individually carried by 25 the clips ii are the keys 23, any one of which may thus be conveniently manipulated.

Mounted on one of the clips 2! is a nail file means 24 embodying the invention. The same may be constructed according to any of the dif- 30 ferent nail file devices shown, any one of which may be substituted for the specific device 2 1..

The device 24 may comprise a nail file 2d and a casing or sheath 2t therefor. The latter may be constructed in any suitable manner, for in- 35 stance, of a pair of plates 2'5, 28 consisting of metal or composition material, and being secured together in any feasible manner. To afford a chamber or passage for the nail file, the wall 2i may have a marginal upraised section at an end 40 and at opposite edges thereof as at 29, Eli. To provide stop means for the nail file, the latter may have a lateral cut out 3! terminating in an acute angle portion 32, the section 36 having a projection extending into said out out and hav- 45 ing a point adapted to mate with the acute angle portion 32. For swinging movement of the nail file 25 the wall 2i may have a raised fulcrum portion 3d at a corner thereof, and the adjacent end of the section 29 may be curved for clearance in course of the angular motion of the nail file. Accordingly, the sheath 2B affords an end opening at 35 and opposed adjacent marginal openings 36, 31 for a transverse position of the nail file as shown in Fig. 3. Desirably the walls 21, d5

28 are in such proximity to each other as to yieldingly or resiliently engage the nail file therebetween, with resultant frictional gripping of the nail file teeth to thus suitably restrain accidental movement of the nail file. At its closed end, the sheath 26 may have a perforation 38 for connection with a clip 2!.

The manner of'using the device will now be briefly described. It will be perceived that the nail file 25 is provided at its opposite ends with a nail cleaning point 39 and a cuticle treating blunt portion 50. With the nail file retracted and frictionally retained in the sheath or finger piece head 25, substantially only the point 39 is exposed for use, and the device Ed is small and compact and may nest among the keys and. be enclosed in the case it. It will be observed that the sheath 26 forms a head of substantial thickness and strength, and may carry thereon advertising as at 5. When the device is to be used for filing nails, the nail file is grasped and pulled outward in its longitudinally alined relation to the sheath as shown in Fig. 2, with the fulcrum 34 serving as a guide and the stop means 32, 33 acting to limit the outward movement. By swinging the nail file to the position of Fig. 3 about the fulcrum (t l, both of its end portions 39, it can be used as desired, with the nail file engaging at its stop means. If desired, the nail file can be removed and replaced, and hence this construction also permits simplified assembling.

In Figs. 8, 9 and 10 is shown a modified device ii embodying the invention. The same may include a finger piece head 32, perforated at 13 and having a pair of spaced walls M, 2-5 affording a passage 16 partially marginally closed at one edge as at 47 to form a stop. lhe nail file 38 is pivotally mounted on these walls at 39, so

as to be adapted to longitudinally extend as in Fig. 8, or to be pivotally moved into a transverse position as shown in Fig. 9, with the side walls Ml, 45 frictionally engaging the nail file at the teeth thereof to restrict accidental movement. In all other respects, as to construction, mounting, use and operation, the device iii may be like that at 24 and may be substituted therefor in the key case it. If desired, a tit Ma may yieldably stop the file in the positions of Figs. 8 and 9.

A particularly simple structure is that shown in Fig. 11, wherein the nail file 58 is formed at one end with a nail cleaning point 33 and at its other end with an enlarged finger piece head iii perforated at 52 for engagement by a clip 3!.

This nail file may be constructed as a simple one-piece stamping and may be substituted for the device 2d in the key case lit, with the adjoining keys 23 serving to protect this nail file against breakage due to pressure when carried in a back pocket.

In Fig. 12 is shown another modified nail file 53 like that at 5%, and having an enlarged finger piece head 54 perforated at 55, but provided with opposed lateral cuticle treating blunt projections 56. Hence the latter may be used at the right and left sides of a nail without requiring that the nail file be shifted in the hand. Moreover, the elements 56, being laterally spaced, are free of interference by the clip 2 i.

It will be noted that each of the nail file means 24, M, 5!] and 53 comprise a finger piece head perforated for securement to a key holder, so that all of these modifications are basically similar in principle, and that each may be used while it remains connected to a key holder. It will thus be seen that I have provided devices which fulfill the objects of the invention and are well adapted for practical use.

I claim:

1. A device including a nail file having at its opposite ends a nail cleaning point and a cuticle treating blunt portion, respectively, and a finger piece head having a sheath for slidingly receiving the nail file, and means for pivotal movement of the nail file in the plane of the sheath with the nail file lying transverse to the head and the ends of the nail file projecting at opposite edges of the said head.

2. A device including a nail file having a nail cleaning point at one end and a cuticle treating blunt portion at its opposite end, a fiat sheath into which the nail file is longitudinally slidable in alined relation with the sheath, the opposite walls of said sheath yieldably frictionally engaging the nail file teeth, the sheath having one end portion open at its end and side edges, said end portion of the sheath being closed at one corner to form a fulcrum, said nail file being adapted to move into engagement with said fulcrum and to pivot thereon, so that the nail file projects through the said openings at the side edges transversely of the sheath, and stop means on said sheath and nail file including a portion having a recess and a portion having a projection engageable in said recess, said stop means being constructed and arranged to limit movement of the nail file in the alined and transverse positions of the nail file, and said stop means being disengageable by a predetermined movement of the nail file for removal of the nail file from the sheath.

3. A device including a nail file having a nail cleaning point at one end thereof and a cuticle pushing blunt portion at the other end thereof, a finger piece head forming a fiat sheath for the nail file, said sheath being closed at one end and being partially closed at one side adjacent to the closed end, said sheath being open along its remaining edges, a pivot means interconnecting the nail file at a point intermediate of its end with the sheath at its open end so that the nail file is partially slidable into the sheath to lie longitudinally thereof, with the nail file being movable into a position transversely of the sheath into stop contact with the closed side edge of the sheath.

4. A device including a nail file, a hollow finger piece head, and means to cause the nail file to swingably engage the head for movement partially into and out of the head with thenail file and head being maintained along a plane and being slidably engageable with each other, said means being located at a point intermediate the ends of the nail file so that opposite end portions of the nail file project from the head when the nail file is moved outward, and positive stop means for limiting outward movement of the nail file.

5. A device including a nail file having a nail cleaning point at one end and a different nail treating portion at its other end, and elongated means connected to the nail file for swingably mounting the same so that the nail file extends in inoperative position along said means and in operative position extends transversely to said means so that said end portions operatively project at different sides of the said means.

6. A device including a nail file having a nail cleaning point at one end and a different nail treating portion at the other end thereof, a finger piece head forming an elongated sheath for the nail file, means providing lost motion pivotal engagement between the nail file and the sheath so that the nail file is movable to a first position to lie transversely of the sheath with the end portions of the nail file projecting at different edges of the sheath, and to a second position so that the nail file lies in alinement with the sheath and is slidable thereinto, and stop means for releasably holding the nail file in said first position.

7. A device including a nail file having a nail cleaning point at one end and a different nail treating portion at the other end thereof, a finger piece head forming an elongated sheath for the nail file, and means pivotally interconnecting the sheath and the nail file at a point intermediate the end portions of the latter, said means being located at an end portion of the sheath, said sheath providing a relatively thin flat compartment open along an edge to permit the nail file to move to a first position transversely of the sheath With the end portions of the nail file projecting from the sheath at the different side edges thereof, and to a second position with the nail file being in alinement with said sheath and an end portion of the nail file housed in said sheath, and a stop means for limiting the movement of the nail file from the second to the first position. 

